- Te Kūiti’s unique castle is for sale as owners Lindsey and Damian Anselmi downsize.
- The five-bedroom castle, built in the 1980s, features handmade metalwork and castle-like hinges.
- The castle is priced at $890,000, with additional farmland sections also for sale.
Te Kūiti’s one-of-a-kind castle has hit the market for sale – and it’s all because the owners have fallen in love with a mini version further south.
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Lindsey Anselmi told OneRoof the tale of how she and her husband, Damian, ended up living in a castle for the last 20 years – and it was a “very weird” one.
The keen marathoner had gone to the gym and returned home to find he had bought a farm. “I was like, ‘I was only gone an hour’, and he spent $552,000 on some farmland on Tate Road,” she said.
“He said he just fell in love with the farmland, and I said, ‘Oh well, if you want it, you pay for it’.”
The owner says the house is so big she even has her own lounge. Photo / Supplied
The ceilings are made of timber panelling, and there are castle-like hinges on the handmade pine doors. Photo / Supplied
They bought the castle, which was a much-talked-about landmark in town and originally part of the farm, a year later.
The Waitomo house was built in the early 1980s by the Meredith family, who, according to Lindsey, had the architects living on-site during construction.
The five-bedroom castle still takes Lindsey’s breath away.
“We’ve just got beautiful metal features throughout the house that were all handmade to go with the property. It’s just amazing. The [solid pine] doors have got castle-like hinges on them – just things like that.
“It’s just really unusual, it is a landmark, one of a kind. It’s got all the turrets. It’s pretty cool.”
Lindsey said the castle had also been the perfect place to raise the couple’s children because there was a swimming pool and so much space. The closest neighbour was 1km away, she said.
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“There are so many spaces and nooks and crannies where people can spread out.”
The view over the farmland was also divine, she said, and something she would miss when they moved.
The couple are both nearing retirement age and have decided it’s time to downsize and move closer to their two adult daughters in Wellington.
They have fallen in love with a property in Greytown, which reminds them of their Tate Road home, albeit smaller.
The landmark property sits on 1.66ha. Photo / Supplied
Lindsey said they were reluctant to buy before they sold their Te Kūiti castle, but then the Greytown vendors dropped the price and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.
They have already sold one part of their farmland to a neighbour and now have 10ha and the castle at 127 Tate Road still to sell. A big chunk of the farmland at 167A Tate Road is for sale for $399,000, while a 9679sqm section at 167B Tate Road is priced at $325,000. The castle has an asking price of $890,000 – below the RV of $920,000.
Lindsey said her husband had commented that he thought they had under-priced the properties, but she said they had decided they could afford to since they had got a good deal on their next home.
“We got a really big deal, and they were really good to us. That’s a really nice thing to do. They knew it was our dream retirement home, and I said to Damian, ‘Well, we can afford to do that a little bit too’.”
“We can afford to sell it for a little bit under and just pass it on to someone who will love it.”
- 127 Tate Road, in Te Kūiti, Waikato, is for sale for $890,000
